Adigenics is a Singapore-based company, established in 2013, which specializes in Adipose Tissue and Adipose Stem Cells banking services. The team at Adigenics believed that research is the key to advancement toward novel and emerging clinical processing and banking technologies. Adigenics is led by a team of experienced professionals who actively collaborate with local and international scientists.
Their core expertise is the development of adipose tissue technology, hence they aim to revolutionize the personalization of medicine via innovative clinical applications of human adipose tissue.
I, Sandhya Sriram, met with the co-founders, Wee Chorng Kien, Kurt (KW) and Lim Teck Sin (TS) to speak with them about the company’s mission and goals.
How and when did Adigenics come about? Who are the founder(s)?
TS: Adigenics was incorporated in June 2013 in Singapore by Dr Shigeki Sugii (SS-Scientific Advisor) and myself and later KW expressed interest to invest in the company (KW is the investing founder) and hence it was a team!
KW: I am very much interested in stem cell therapy and its potential applications, hence I found this company to be of interest to invest in. When they (SS and TS) spoke to me about their company’s mission and vision, I immediately knew that it was the correct company to move forward with. I believe in the future of regenerative medicine.
What does Adigenics do?
Adigenics is the pioneer company in Singapore to specialize in Adipose Tissue and Adipose Stem Cells banking. We are committed in ensuring quality and that reliable adipose tissue and stem cells storage platform is delivered to meet individual customer needs. We aim to become the world’s leading resource centre in promoting value of personalized adipose tissue and its derived products.
We wanted to develop a non-enzymatic method, xeno-free method (no bacterial solution, no animal components) to isolate adipose stem cells. We hit the benchmark in October 2014 in terms of yield! Using our method, the yield of adipose stem cells is up to the mark and we can isolate the stem cells in just a matter of few hours. So you go in for a liposuction procedure in the morning and we will have the cells isolated by the evening! We are definitely on the road to commercialization.
How effective is adipose stem cell banking?
KW: There are three main sources of stem cells: bone marrow, blood or umbilical cord blood (from newborn), however, the procedures to isolate the stem cells from these sources in adults in quite painful and tedious. Also, the abundance of the stem cells is a problem. Fat or adipose tissue on the other hand is available in large quantities. Collection of fat by liposuction procedures is pretty straightforward and the amount of adipose stem cells obtained are relatively high. Not many people know the value of fat cells.
At Adigenics, we aim to isolate the adipose stem cells using a non-enzymatic method; there is no usage of collagenase (like in traditional methods). We have developed a device that can isolate adipose stem cells in an automated mechanism, where you just put in your fat and at the end you will get adipose stem cells in sterile conditions without the use of collagenase.
The banked stem cells can be used for cosmetics/aesthetics, healing of wounds and also for regeneration; the potential is huge! There is no worry about immune rejection as it is your own banked cells being used for your therapy. And of course, our procedure is non-collagenase.
The team at Adigenics – KW is the second from left
Is Adigenics open to the public like cord blood banking?
Not yet. We are working with 3 potential collaborators to extract adipose stem cells, bank them and also commercialize products related to adipose stem cells. We are closely working with doctors and hospitals for banking purposes. Eventually we would like to market the device we have developed for non-enzymatic adipose stem cell isolation. We are in the alpha phase right now, having developed the prototype of the device, and looking to enter the the beta phase very soon.
How expensive is it to bank your adipose stem cells?
It will cost as much as it costs now to bank other stem cells. The main costs include cryopreservation (preserving cells in ultra-low temperatures using liquid nitrogen) and banking. Eventually, the costs will come down as people realize the importance of stem cell banking. A school of thought is that stem cell therapy should be done before an ailment occurs; as in people who are aging (in theirs 50s or 60s) should start taking stem cell therapy to postpone their age-related problems by a decade or so!
The trend now is to travel to medical clinics in countries like Thailand, China and Switzerland, where stem-cell therapy is being touted as a cure-all for ailments such as spinal injuries, autism and Parkinson’s disease, and even in the battle against ageing. Many of these clinics have injected sheep foetal cells into patients to slow their ageing and to rejuvenate them. But the effects are unproven.Most patients do not see results.
We are firm believers of benefits of a person’s own adipose stem cells being the best type of cells for regenerative therapy. You have no risk of rejection, human stem cells are powerful in regenerative capacity, plus there’s no “karma”! Liposuction is relatively a simple procedure which can be done with using local anesthesia and it is minimally invasive.
What is the recovery and efficiency rate of revival of adipose stem cells to be used later for therapy?
Using our non-enzymatic method, we have achieved efficiency and yield levels as high as the enzymatic approach. Our research breakthrough came when we were able to replicate the protocol repeatedly, leading to the development of our upcoming device, which incidentally is only a small fraction in physical size compared to what the established doctors use in their clinics.
What can we expect in the future from Adigenics?
We have plans to distribute our device, isolating of cells and banking services to the rest of Asia in the future. We are happy to work with scientists and surgeons all over Asia.
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